Australian TV has a news spoof show that frankly makes The Daily Show look incredibly tame. The Daily Show takes off on news but the Chasers make their own. When Sydney was made a virtual prison camp for the "anti-terrorism" conference, The Chasers organized and official looking motorcade carrying an Osama Bin Laden look alike and penetrated to near the deepest secure zone. It was a hoot but all their episodes are amazing. Check them out on YouTube or their other download sites.

I'm sure the Chasers ratings will go through the roof when one of their stupid stunts gets them shot at or blown up by a Bazooka or overly nervous security detail. Remember they are not pulling this stuff here in "do anything you want you have rights USA" There is a very thin line between their entertainment and stupidity. If they take suggestions I'd like to see them dress a guy up as Salman Rushtie and have a Satanic Verses Book Signing in downtown Mecca !! Now that would be a "hoot"

__________________If I had known I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself ! Mick #7

If they take suggestions I'd like to see them dress a guy up as Salman Rushtie and have a Satanic Verses Book Signing in downtown Mecca !! Now that would be a "hoot"

Fortunately Australians have a better sense of humor and tolerance is an ethic not a vice. But the west has it's own potential fascist bent and people like Chasers keep us aware of how we might be losing our openness.

Osama is one of the most hunted men in the world. There are rewards in the millions for his capture. Dressing someone up as him is not about having a sense of humor it's about stupidity ! Lets send Sirhan to the next Kennedy clam bake on Martha's , lets send Mehmet Ali Hagca to midnight mass at the Vatican . How about a Jim Jones for Kool-aid ad ? I have a sense of humor , I like to laugh but there are somethings that are so dumb they are not funny. As you point out all the time Barry you don't need anyone or anything to remind you we as a country have a sense of humor , look who we re-elected President !!

__________________If I had known I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself ! Mick #7

I see your points....what they were poking fun at was the facade of security which according to my young Aussie mate who lives there, turned Sydney into an armed camp where citizens were routinely denied access to their own city. John Howard, the VERY FORMER PM of Australia, played the fear card all the time to maintain power right up to the end. So the point was not anything positive about OBL, but rather that the security was a sham and a show.

But they cover the map with bizarre stunts and are really funny. As they would say there ...give it a go!

I don't need to go to Australia or anywhere else for that matter to witness citizens being prisoners in their own cities. Try Manhattan during General Assembly week at the U.N. Try getting around 7th and 8th avenue during the Political Conventions. Try downtown during the World Economic Conference. Try getting anywhere when the President is in town. During Christmas we have no drive zones.I went to a Christmas show at Madison Square Garden the other night and there were armed troops and cops ( with helmets and automatic weapons ) all over Penn Station. Australians are lucky ! They can poke fun at security they think is over board , They didn't have the buildings across the street blow up or collapse from terrorist actions. Their subways haven't been gassed and their country is pretty much off the terrorist radar screen. Lets see how funny they are when downtown Sydney gets attacked.

Throw another shrimp on the barbie mate and hand me a Forsters !! Can't wait to see how the Chasers handle this one !! __________________If I had known I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself ! Mick #7

Exercise your sense of humor and give em a go. My bet is you will get a hoot out of them. Put aside you current impressions and see the real thing.

Personally I think that conferences that require that much security should be held somewhere they do not interfere with peoples reasonable use of the city. Some, like a convention are impractical to move due to the infrastructure required but ones like that in Sydney can be held elsewhere.

BTW, Sydney does have a significant Islamic population and there are tensions on both sides, largely racist in nature.

There are around 446,500 Muslims in Australia, out of a total population of 19,000,000, and they belong to various ethnic backgrounds, including Lebanese, Turkish, and Far Eastern.While the Muslims of Australia have yet to have any influence in the political process in Australia, many have joined some of the existing political parties in the country, the majority support the Labor Party. They feel that this party "respects and takes interest" in their affairs.

Cronulla Beach, in Southern Sydney, wasn’t so tranquil in December 2005 when thousands of Anglo-Australians went on an anti-Muslim rampage, resulting in an unprecedented beach lockdown. A crowd of 5,000, organized by word of mouth and text messages, reportedly chanted slogans such as “wog-free zone,” “ethnic cleansing unit,” and “Lebs go home,” in reference to the estimated 250,000 Australians of Lebanese descent.

Anglo-Australian teenage boys scrawled, “We grew here, you flew here” in black marker on their chests, epitomizing a campaign targeting non-white immigrants who frequent the beaches, specifically the growing Muslim population in Australia.

Australia has a long history of racism. From its founding as a country in 1901 to as late as the mid-70s, the Australian government employed a “White Australia” policy. Later, as the country began to accept migrants from Italy and Asia, it became increasingly pluralistic. But public debate never turned away for long from the fear of being “flooded and invaded by Asians,” as espoused by the right-wing One Nation Party during the 1990s.

Recent events such as the September 11 attacks, the Bali Bombings, and the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon have meant that Australia’s Muslim population has been the target of harassment and racism. In 2003 the New South Wales Anti-Discrimination Board argued that these debates had led to a “damaging environment of anti- Arabic and anti-Muslim sentiment” and the Australian Arabic Council recorded a twenty-fold increase in complaints.

Looks like the Chasers will have plenty of material for future shows.

__________________If I had known I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself ! Mick #7

Insert Photos

Web address (URL)

Image URL

If your URL is correct, you'll see an image preview here. Large images may take a few minutes to appear.
Remember: Using others' images on the web without their permission may be bad manners, or worse, copyright infringement.